Ioannis Davos

Who was Ioannis Davos?

Ioannis Davos was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of full General, and held the posts of Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff and of the Armed Forces High Command.

He was born in the village of Agios Georgios in Messenia, in 1918. He entered the Hellenic Army Academy, but the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War on 28 October 1940 interrupted his studies: he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and participated in the campaign, being seriously wounded at the Battle of Trebeshina. Following the collapse of the Greek army during the German invasion of Greece and the subsequent occupation, he was active in the Greek Resistance, forming armed guerrilla groups in the Triphylia-Olympia area and being again wounded. He was named a Lieutenant upon Liberation in 1944, and participated in the subsequent Greek Civil War as a company commander with the rank of Captain. He was promoted to Major, Lt. Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier. He commanded the 30th Infantry Regiment and the 11th Infantry Division, as well as serving in various staff positions - including two stints in Cyprus, in 1964-66 as head of the Operations Bureau and in 1969-70 as Chief of Staff of the Cypriot National Guard - and teaching in the Supreme War School.